A thread on one of the earliest motion pictures to be banned in India (1/n)
The year - 1934. Dhanpat Srivastava, a printing press owner in Benares was an unhappy man, despite being an acclaimed writer. He was struggling with ill health and financial difficulties. Right then, a new opportunity came up (2/n)
In the early 1930s, the film industry in Bombay was expanding rapidly. Writers from all over India were congregating there in search of better fortunes. Srivastava also decided to join their ranks (3/n)
He managed a writing job with Ajanta Cinetone, a film production house for an annual salary of Rs 8000. For the financially-distressed Srivastava, it was a princely sum (4/n)
On 31st May, 1934, Srivastava arrived in Bombay to take up his new role. His first script was based on the struggles of mill workers in Bombay (5/n)
Titled Mazdoor (the laborer), it told the tale of the unscrupulous son of a deceased mill owner who takes over his father’s mill and exploits the workers for his personal gain, only to be thwarted by his sister who supported the disgruntled workers (6/n)
The script was liked and the film was made. Srivastava even cameoed as a leader of the agitating workers. On 5th February, 1935, the film was sent to the Censor Board for certification. That’s when the trouble began (7/n)
One of the influential members of the Board was Byramjee Jeejeebhoy, who was also the president of Bombay Mill Owners’ Association (8/n)
The film was denied release permission - the official reason given was that its provocative content could lead to agitation by mill workers against the owners (9/n)
The film did release in Delhi, Lucknow and Lahore where it incited strong emotions amongst workers and was soon banned (10/n)
In an ironic twist of fate, workers at Srivastav’s press in Benares were also said to have been inspired by the film to strike against their owner due to non-payment of wages! (11/n)
Srivastav was left disgruntled. He was anyway displeased with the commercial environment of the Bombay film industry. On 4th April, 1935, even before his one-year contract with Ajanta Cinetone expired, Srivastav left Bombay, an embittered man (12/n)
Although his movie career didn't take off, Srivastav’s fame as a writer has endured for generations. We know him better by his pen-name: Munshi Premchand (13/n)
As Holi celebrations continue, we retrace the bewildering journey of a color from a Bihar village to one of the world’s most celebrated paintings. A thread (1/n)
The Starry Night, arguably the world’s most recognized piece of art, was painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1889 - an imaginary view from a lonely window of his asylum in Southern France (2/n)
The Moon, on the top-right corner, remained a silent witness of a brilliant story (3/n)
Holi, the festival of colors. The celebration of spring across the country, breaking down social barriers, even if for a day. It was in Mughal Delhi and Lucknow where the kings and emperors would soak in the colors of holi (1/n)
This famous Mughal painting shows emperor Jahangir celebrating holi in the zenana (female chambers), possibly applying colors on his wife, empress Noor Jehan. The emperor’s autobiography also mentions the hosting of Mehfil - e - Holi (2/n)
The tradition of Holi has also been beautifully captured in compositions of Sufi saints. Hazrat Amir Khusrau had written:
Kheluungi holi, khaaja ghar aaye
Dhan dhan bhaag hamare sajni
Khaaja aaye angaan mere
(3/n)
Every partition story is a weeping witness of dreadful human acts, but a few of them also enrich the cultural cascade of India. The strange origin of Fish Koliwada is one such interesting anecdote. A short thread. 1/n
During partition, many displaced Sikh refugees from Hazara district and Peshawar, who didn’t have relatives in Punjab, Delhi or Kashmir, boarded the iconic Frontier Mail and headed to Bombay with a hope of new life. 2/n
They settled down in the Sion-Koliwada military camp, near today’s Guru Tegh Bahadur (GTB) Nagar railway station. Shanties around the streets and dockyard became the shelter of many Sikh refugees who had fled Pakistan after Partition. 3/n
A day to reminisce about a peculiar sight of a different time, an Indian woman in Sari, flying an aircraft during the pre-independence era.
A thread on Sari, Aircraft, Besharmi and a trailblazing mother, Sarla Thakral. (1/n)
When Sarla was married to Prabhu Dutt Sharma and moved to Lahore, she was merely 16. It was a family with a rich heritage of aviation heroics. Captain Sharma himself was a decorated pilot who flew with Nehru for his first election tour circa 1937. (2/n)
Her father-in-law owned a company called Himalayan Airways that used to operate flights between Haridwar & Badrinath. It was mostly his enthusiasm that had his young daughter-in-law enrolled in a flying club in Lahore, for Rs. 30/hour. (3/n)
‘Beware the ides of march’ said the soothsayer on chancing upon Caesar. On this day, we recount how the Bard was adapted into Bengali and Julius Caesar’s demise was enacted with fervor and passion on the Bengali theatre stage through the ages. A thread (1/n)
The history of Bengali proscenium theatre is the history of colonial theatre and Shakespeare's plays were adapted into Bengali with great enthusiasm.
Over the years, Shakespeare became a symbol of resistance for the Bengali bhodrolok (2/n)
Translation of Shakespeare into the vernacular language first started with the great Michael Madhusudan Dutta (3/n)
On Albert Einstein’s birth anniversary, let's talk a little about a couple of towering figures of their time and their mutual admiration. Let’s talk about Einstein and Gandhi. (1/n)
In 1931 Gandhi, then a leading figure of India’s freedom movement had gone to London to attend the round table conference. Seeing the dhoti-clad man with his stick on the streets of Britain’s capital must have been some sight. (2/n)
Gandhi had admirers all over the place, one particularly being a well-known German scientist Albert Einstein who wrote a letter to him dated 27th September 1931. (3/n)